Bill Whelan Presents: Emily Flack and Séamus Flaherty

Instrumentalist and recent New York City transplant, Erik Alvar found his way into the acoustic music world growing up on the Space Coast of Florida by picking up mandolin and upright bass at the age of ten. While studying commercial music at Florida State University, Erik turned his focus on the bass, studying both jazz and classical while performing with the orchestra, jazz band, and many world music ensembles. During this time, he also toured the country with folk singers and bluegrass bands.

Immediately following graduation, Erik moved to Nashville, TN, where within two weeks he was on a tour bus and living on the road full-time. During his three years in Nashville, Erik worked and toured with many top bluegrass artists, including Billy Strings, the Jim Hurst Trio, and Rebecca Frazier and Hit & Run. He also played numerous theater shows including the second national tour of A Christmas Story, the Musical.

Erik eventually found himself back in his home state where he attended the University of Florida on a fully funded assistant-ship teaching jazz and earning a master’s degree in classical bass performance. Now living in NYC, Erik performs full-time and has a teaching studio, both online and in person, in bass, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and music theory.

Canadian singer, songwriter and musician, Emily Jean Flack takes "progressive folk" to new places. Her voice is raw and effortless, and her songs are dynamic and honest. 

For Emily, musical beginnings were rooted in the traditional and folk scenes throughout Canada, no doubt eventually delving into more contemporary styles. Emily has traveled throughout North America, the UK and Europe with various artists and groups as well as performing as a solo artist.  Now living in Limerick, Emily has been writing and recording for the good part of a year while also attaining a masters degree at the Irish World Academy. She is soon to release her debut EP, “Throwing Shapes” in the fall of 2018. 

Emily’s style definitely crosses boundaries, taking the listener far from what is expected and yet keeping them close enough to still feel the music.   

Séamus Flaherty is a dancer, singer, and instrumentalist. At only 19 years old, Séamus meets each discipline with a passion and quiet zeal backed up by a love of the traditional Irish music heritage. Since the age of 16, he has been making waves across the globe; performing in China, the US, Canada, The United Kingdom, and mainland Europe. He had the privilege of performing more recently alongside Cherish the Ladies at the world renowned Celtic Connections in 2017.

Born into a family steeped in Irish traditional music, it wasn't long before Séamus got his eager hands on the tin whistle, learning to play his first piece of music before developing into an accomplished multi-instrumentalist.
 
An incredible 23 time All-Ireland champion on harp, tin-whistle, singing and dancing, Séamus has performed on numerous tours across the globe, traveling extensively alongside other accomplished artists. Although only 19 years of age, Séamus has made numerous television appearances, and has been featured in many radio programs throughout his early musical career.
 
Séamus is one of the few of his age responsible for maintaining the old style of Irish singing; “sean-nós” or “old style” singing, an ancient form of decorative Irish song, is of huge importance to him. He proudly boasts the beauty of this Irish art form wherever he goes, delivering haunting renditions of poignant Irish folklore and mesmeric melodies to attentive audiences far and wide.
 
A keen multi-instrumentalist, he has entertained audiences worldwide with displays of rhythmic dance, vibrant music, and compelling vocals.

Haley is the 2015 Junior Fiddler of Dooney, the 2013 All Ireland Champion winning in both under 12 solo fiddle and under 12 fiddle slow airs, and 2017 All Ireland under 15 slow air champion.

After asking to learn to play the violin at age two, Haley began Suzuki violin lessons at the age of three.. Her enthusiasm and love of playing was quickly recognized and at four she began lessons with Gerry Rice of Haddonfield NJ who remained her teacher until fall 2015. Haley currently studies classical violin with Madison Day of Audobon, NJ.

Before her 5th birthday, Haley fell in love with Irish music inspired by fiddler Kevin Burke during a live performance. She began learning fiddle tunes from Kevin's How to Play Celtic Fiddle DVD and by listening to his CD and playing along while riding in the car. Formal study of Irish fiddle began with Kathy DeAngelo of Voorhees, NJ in August of 2007. In July 2009, after winning her first Mid-Atlantic under 12 Irish fiddle competition at just six years old, she met fiddling legend and teacher, Brian Conway, who became her teacher a couple months later. By April 2014, Haley was a 6X Mid-Atlantic Region under 12 Irish fiddle champion. She is a 3X Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Under 15 solo fiddle championship and 2X Under 15 fiddle slow airs champion,  bringing the number of Mid-Atlantic solo fiddle wins to nine consecutive championships. She has placed numerous times in the All Ireland competition in both solo fiddle, fiddle slow airs, and in trio competitions including second place in both under 15 solo fiddle and fiddle slow airs in August 2016.

In addition to being a dynamic solo performer, Haley has performed with many of the most well-known names in Irish music today including The Chieftains, Altan, Dervish, Mick Moloney, Pride of New York, Liz Carroll with Cherish the Ladies, John Whelan, Paddy Keenan, The Máirtín de Cógáin Project, and  is a regular member of Green Fields of American and The John Whelan Band.  She has also participated as the band fiddler in the Studio2Stage Irish dance production, That's Dancing, from 2014-2017. Haley currently performs regularly with one of her two trios, Shared Madness and Mothers' Pride.

John Whelan has been a wonderful mentor to Haley.  He  recorded and produced Haley's debut CD, Heart on a String, in March 2015. Haley also appeared on two tracks as part of  Andy Lamy's Mixed Flock on his CD, The New Blackthorn Stick.  In March 2017, Haley released a CD she produced entitled Music for Mercy, a compilation CD featuring donated tracks from many of the best Irish musicians under 21 years old from around the world. All proceeds from the CD benefit the Mercy Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bill Whelan's production and arranging credits include, among others, U2, Van Morrison and Kate Bush.

THEATRE
He has worked extensively in theatre. His adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore had successful runs at London's Old Vic, Melbourne and Sydney and received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. In 1989, he was appointed composer to the W.B. Yeats International Theatre Festival at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, he wrote original music for 15 Yeat's plays.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC
His work with Irish traditional music and musicians has occupied much of his time since 1980 when he was a member of the legendary Planxty. He also produced records for many folk artists including, Andy Irvine, Patrick Street, Stockton's Wing, Davy Spillane and the Bulgarian/Irish band, East Wind.

ORCHESTRAL
In 1987, he wrote his first major orchestral suite commemorating the film music of Seán Ó Riada, which was conducted by Elmer Bernstein and performed by the Irish National Symphony Orchestra.

His specially commissioned orchestral work, The Seville Suite, received its European premiere performance at the Maestranza in Seville as part of the celebrations for Ireland's National Day at Expo '92. The last movement of this work was danced by Maria Pagés who was later to appear in Riverdance The Show. His next large scale orchestral work, The Spirit Of Mayo, was performed in 1993 by an 85-piece orchestra in Dublin's National Concert Hall. Together with the choral group Anúna, this piece also featured a powerful Celtic drum corps and a 200 strong choir.

FILM 
His own compositional work in film includes Lamb starring Liam Neeson, the award-winning At The Cinema Palace, the emotive score for the film Some Mother's Son and Dancing At Lughnasa starring Meryl Streep.

In 2007 Bill wrote a brand new score, specially commissioned for the new print of Bob Quinn’s film “Poitín”, originally released (with no music) in 1977 and starring Cyril Cusack, Donal McCann and Niall Toibin.

RIVERDANCE
Riverdance was composed especially for the interval act of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The original 7 minute orchestral piece conceived for hard-shoe Irish dance was televised to a European audience of 300 million viewers. As a single release, Riverdance spent 18 weeks at No. 1 in the Irish charts and was a Top Ten hit in the UK.

Later that year Bill Whelan began to write Riverdance The Show and in February 1995 it had it's first performance at The Point Theatre in Dublin. Since then it has gone on to play to millions of people world-wide with both the album and video topping the charts around the world.

Riverdance Music From The Show is an album of 15 inspired composition's which marry a rich blend of ethnic influences, such as Russian, Spanish and Irish. The album features stunning performances from some of the finest Irish and International musicians including Eileen Ivers, Rafael Riquini, Nikola Parov and Davy Spillane.

Bill was honoured with a 1997 Grammy Award when the Riverdance record was named the Best Musical Show Album.